


Lightning

by MueraRashaye, Origami_Roses



Series: Aelius' Backstory Ficlets [6]
Category: Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Other, Worldbuilding, myths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28860312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MueraRashaye/pseuds/MueraRashaye, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origami_Roses/pseuds/Origami_Roses
Summary: Some questions are best answered with tales from distant lands.
Series: Aelius' Backstory Ficlets [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1474505
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> As OrigamiRoses and I sometimes summarize the ABF story to one another - it's a great excuse for all the worldbuilding ever. There's a _reason_ I picked Aelius' homeland to be one so very far away from Valdemar. All the more chances to get some awesome stories en route! Hope you enjoy. -- MR

Aelius should probably care more that Prince Jason had shown up in the small forgotten attic store room he had claimed for storm watching. If he had managed to count time-keeping bells under the rolling thunder properly, the young prince should be in lessons of some sort - but Jason hadn't even greeted him, instead immediately claiming a purloined cushion for himself and burrowing into his side. Guardsman Yan had poked his head through the hatch, but only given him a nod before retreating back down the ladder, so at least Jason hadn't slipped away from his guards entirely as well as his possibly-nonexistent lessons.

Thunder crashed in his very _bones_ , the blue-white flashes lancing to the ground and illuminating clouds from within - Aelius loved it.

"Aelius? Where does lightning come from?" Jason asked after a particularly blinding flash.

Aelius hummed, deciding which story to tell, as he had heard plenty. Probably not the one describing lightning as angry and hurtful spirits being forcibly torn from this plane into the afterlife by the gods; with as much lightning as was over their heads that sort of tale raised questions of just how many angry and hurtful spirits were lurking around you at any one time and Jason had enough trouble sleeping as it was, reportedly. There were some hilarious sex ones that Jason was obviously too young to appreciate. Hmm, yes. That one would do - at least this one sort of had a happy ending.

“I heard this story when I spent a few months among the Shin'ai'in. It was told to me by Ho’chath, of the Cat Clan,” he finally said, doing his best to fall into the rhythm that Ho’chath had told the story in, but he was not such a good mimic and Valdemaran didn’t have the right cadence besides, “As it was told to him by his grandmother, and her grandmother, and her grandmother before her, all the way back to the time the Star-Eyed only had one people, and back even further, for this is the story those ancestors themselves told.

“The Star-Eyed had a treasured Herd, holding the best of every type of horse from the world over. This Herd was second only to Her People in Her heart, and it was the dream of every child to one day be called on to tend the Herd.

“But not every dream can be fulfilled, and one turned away from the Star-Eyed's Field to tend to zher own people, to zher own kin, grew bitter and enraged. This spite only grew when zhe saw zher elder cousin accepted as a Herd-minder, leaving zhem the burden of their clan, of their lands, and of zher own soured dreams.

“'My cousin is a fool', zhe thought, witnessing zhem chasing after foals with halters of softest rope and never managing to catch one. 'My cousin is lazy', zhe cursed, watching as zhe dozed in the sun while the Herd ate the richest of grasses. 'My cousin is not worthy', zhe raged, seeing zhem brush near invisible tangles from perfectly glossy manes.

“Zhe grew so angry, so furious, that finally zhe could bear it no longer and came up with a plan to show everyone how very unworthy zher cousin was. Going one evening to visit with letters from the family and summer-fruit, zhe greeted zher cousin warmly, insisting that zhe must show zhem around, explain zher duties, and of course read zher letters and eat the fruit.

“It took four visits before zher plan finally came into being. Zhe urged zher cousin to drink until zhe slumbered, unaware of the world. The horses zhe walked amongst unnoticed, by wearing zher cousin’s clothes and rolling in zher cousin’s bed so all they could smell was their minder. At all but one corner of the field, zhe doused grass in oil brought to add shine to the Herd’s hair. It was not until the last moment that the cousin started to wake, and could only shout an alarm when a spark was thrown.

“The Herd awoke at once to their Minder’s cry, but it was too late – a firestorm was already racing through the grass behind them and rushing forward. Panicked and snorting, they ran from the flames, but the only gate was too narrow for them, meant only for humans. The cousin was crying and furious, because this was betrayal of their kinship, betrayal of their little siblings, and betrayal of their Goddess. Zhe could think of nothing else to do, zhe did not hold their Goddess’ ear, zhe did not have any great magic of zher own, but zhe loved the Herd desperately.

“Running to the wretch, to the traitor, zhe threw zhem into the flames zhe had brought so carelessly, begged for the Goddess’ help, and walked into fire.

“And with zher last breath stolen by fire, one of the foals zhe had loved so dearly struck zher hoof on air as though it were the most solid of ground. Then another, and another, until the whole of the Herd was racing into the heavens. But the fire was started by malice, and knew it was being robbed of victims. It roared to higher and higher heights, straining to reach even but one of the Herd, so they had to flee higher and higher, until all their coats and tails and hooves were a distant blur, unable to be distinguished from each other.

“The fire had narrowed, had twisted and grown hotter, until it was a white-hot strand, lashing towards the sky. The eldest mare saw it coming, knew they could not go any higher, and struck it back with her hoof.

“Fire blazed and reflected back down on itself, shaking the earth with the impact and rebounding, but a stallion struck this one back. Again and again the fire tried to reach them, and again and again the Herd blocked it from their foals.

“Finally, that fire was weakened. But it never died. To this day it tries to strike down the Goddess’ Herd, and every crack of thunder is a hoof reflecting it back to the earth and denying that foolish, jealous, spiteful wretch zher triumph. To this day it is held that so long as there are storms in the spring, the Shin’a’in herds will run free.”

“That’s amazing,” Jason breathed, staring intently out the window as though trying to catch a glimpse of fleeting hooves striking fire back to the earth.

“Glad you liked it,” Aelius said, settling into a more comfortable position to watch the storm rage.

**Author's Note:**

> Zhe, zher and zhem are Cranial gender-neutral pronouns (subjective, possessive and objective respectively). They are used either when the person in question has an expressed preference or when the gender of the person is unknown (such as pretty much everyone here on AO3, since we mostly have user names that are not gender-indicative)


End file.
